When he’s dialed in and focused, Luka Doncic is one of the NBA’s brightest talents. He’s a veritable superstar who can take over a game by himself. But that’s the problem. We haven’t always seen that version of Doncic, especially as he incessantly complained about the officiating during the Dallas Mavericks’ second-round playoff battle with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Fortunately for the Mavericks, Doncic seemingly shelved his usual thought process during Wednesday night’s big Game 5 win on the road.
Well, at least for one evening.
In his postgame interview, Doncic acknowledged that he hadn’t been focused on the right things during the Mavericks’ first four games with the Thunder. But he promised himself he would play with more joy and clarity on the task at hand for Game 5. It paid off with tremendous dividends:
Luka Doncic on his mentality changing and him not complaining as much tonight:
“I just tried to play basketball. Just focus on basketball. Sometimes I forgot this is the thing I love, this is the thing I do. My mental focus was to just go out there and play basketball with a… pic.twitter.com/XNwedM70UK
— Noah Weber (@noahweber00) May 16, 2024
Doncic was positively masterful in helping the Mavericks get the 3-2 series edge. He dropped a 30-point triple-double while shooting an efficient 12-of-22 from the field (54 percent). Heck, he even blocked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander near the baseline!
If this is the kind of Doncic the Mavericks will get when he’s just focused on playing his normal game without any frills, they have to be ecstatic. We’ll see whether he keeps it up moving forward.